Fire! A brief history of theater fires in New York City

It's a lesson that applies as well to numerous other technologies: asbestos, lead paint, leaded petrol, CFCs, tobacco, vaping.

And, just possibly, some aspects of information technology.

There's also the long history and tremendous advances in fire safety, mostly through avoidance, but also through improved response and firefighting techniques. Among the notable aspects of the 1991 Oakland Hills Fire was that it was the largest urban fire in well over half a century. I've just looked through Wikipedia's listings for an earlier comparable event, and thought there was one in the 1920s or possibly 1930s, but there the only remotely similar fires were in the 1900s or 1910s, with the Great Fire of San Francisco (1906) possibly being the most notable. Also suggesting that the SF fire and quake left such an impression simply because there was no comparable disaster following it. Previously, great, city-wide conflagrations occurred with distressing regularity.

Episode is: https://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/make-no-law/2018/06/fi...

Though approaching retirement age, I have always wondered why such a thing had its own phrase, “...’fire’ in a crowded theater.” I mean, c’mon, how often does that happen? Well, apparently, before any of us were born...

Which brings to mind how many other idioms we have that haven’t been relevant in our lifetime. Heard a podcaster the other day ask his fellow hosts where the phrase he had just used came from: “nuke the site from orbit, it’s the only way to be sure.” He didn’t forget, he hadn’t even seen any of the movies. It is entirely possible that the source material is older than he is. (I saw it in the theater, which remained uncombusted, if I might bring this back on topic.)